Song of the Kittens and the Chicks
by Balin Lord of Moria
Summary: In-between Season 1 and the un-aired Season 2, the ThunderKittens befriend some unusually humble Birds, and they see a vision of the future at the shores of the ocean. No special point to this story, just a little friendship between innocent children.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own _ThunderCats 2011_.

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><p>The ThunderKittens rode their hoverboards through the forest that was near the Bird Nation. They had a little time off from their duties with the other ThunderCats, and were taking a nice, exciting ride around the countryside. The two of them had been flying around for some time, and they were hoping to find a nice Bird or two to observe.<p>

Suddenly, as they flew up to even greater heights (but not the very tops of the trees), they accidently bumped into a couple of Birds that were flying through the sky nearby. The Birds were smaller than the Birdmen the ThunderKittens were used to, for two reasons. They were children, and they were little Perching Birds. One was a Warblergirl, as evidenced by her feminine features and her brighter colors, and the other was a Sparrowboy, as evidenced by his brown, black and gray colors. The four of them tumbled from the sky and fell on the ground.

WilyKat rubbed his head. "Oops! Oh, sorry about that, Birdkids," said WilyKat apologetically. "We didn't mean to bump into you like that!"

WilyKit looked at the Birds nervously. She and her brother were aware of the signature arrogance that many Birds of Third Earth showed to other races. But the Birds surprised her.

The Sparrowboy shook himself and said, "Oh, that's okay, kid," he chirped, "It happens to us all. Here, let me help you up."

"Yeah, I'll help you up too, young lady," said the Warblergirl. The two Bird pals pulled the ThunderKittens to their feet.

The two little Cats didn't know what to say. They weren't quite expecting this. "Uh, aren't you going to make some snide comments about how lowly we are?" asked WilyKit.

The Birdkids looked at each other and chortled like the Birds they were. "No, of course not," said the Warblergirl, "Not _all_ Birds act like that. We just wanted to help out."

"That's right," said the Sparrowboy, "A friend in need is a friend indeed. Say, are you the ThunderKittens, the sidekicks of the famous ThunderCats?"

WilyKat and WilyKit grinned. "That's us!" said WilyKat, "I'm WilyKat, and this is WilyKit. What are your names?"

"My name's Redvace," said the Warblergirl, "Because I'm related to Red-faced Warblers."

"And mine is Houseboy," said the Sparrowboy, "Because I look like a House Sparrow. We're both best friends."

"Nice to meet you," said the ThunderKittens.

"Hey!" said WilyKat, "How is it that you guys aren't as much like snobs as many of the other Birds we've met? This is, if I'm using the right words?"

"Well," said Redvace, "Warblerfolk and Sparrowmen aren't like a lot of other Bird sub-races, you know. We don't think that the ground races are below us in any way. We're the nicest folks in the whole Bird Nation, and that's because we don't put on airs like the other Birds. Sparrowmen and Warblerfolk see ourselves and everyone else in equal light, and we don't give a hoot about the so-called 'limitations' of your kind, because you don't have limitations."

"Exactly," said Houseboy, "Say, are you kids good at any other things besides flight on those hoverboards? You look like the kind of kids with a lot of advantages in your pockets."

"You bet," said WilyKat, "We have a lot of clever tricks in our belts that are good for fighting. We also have this," here he revealed the Forever Bag. "It can hold an infinite number of people and things inside of it, and we can carry them around and produce them anywhere we want to."

"Wow, that's clever," said Redvace, "I'd like to take a ride in it myself."

"Me, too!" said Houseboy.

"Well, go on, then," urged WilyKit, "We'll bring you out in a place we just know you're gonna love. That way, you'll know what it feels like being in the Bag, and you can see a place I bet the Birds of the Bird Nation don't usually see!"

"Gladly!" said the two Bird kids, and they hopped inside the Forever Bag, where they found a lot of snack goodies stored inside. "Can we have some of these?"

"Sure," said Kat, "As long as you have only 3% of what's in there!"

"Aw, shucks!" said Houseboy, "It looks like 3% is very little."

"ThunderKittens need their goodies, too," said WilyKit.

The Birdkids shrugged and settled in. WilyKat and WilyKit took the bag, got back on their hoverboards, and flew away to their destination.

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><p>A few minutes later, the Birds sensed that the Kittens had stopped. It was rather quiet.<p>

"Can we come out now?" they asked.

"Sure!" said the ThunderKittens. They climbed out and saw the great ocean of Third Earth before them.

"We found this place some time ago, before we joined the other ThunderCats," said WilyKat, "It's a cool place to be, and not just in temperature!"

The Birdkids looked at it, and it took their breath away.

"It's beautiful," commented Redvace, "The beach, the waves, the sounds of the water and the Gulls, everything."

"Normally, only Seabirds like Gulls, Terns, Albatrosses, and others live in or visit places like this," said an awed Houseboy. "Just think, Redvace, we're the first two Perching Birds to see a close-up of the ocean in many years, and we're only Chicks, too!"

"Do you kids know any kind of songs, or music?" Redvace suddenly asked the ThunderKittens. "Because we're Songbirds, too, and while not as good as our elders, we're doing a pretty good job learning."

WilyKit looked excited. "I have a flupe in my pouch," she said, "I can play it very good. Why?"

Redvace spread her little wings and flew around the beach. Then she began to sing a Bird song. It consisted of seven clear, sweet notes, second half slightly faster, with the final note slurred upward. It was the song of a Red-faced Warbler, which in turn was much like the song of a Yellow Warbler, only thinner.

The Kittens watched Houseboy look at the ocean dreamily for a moment, and then they had an idea, too, or at least, WilyKit did. She produced her flupe from her pouch and began to play along with Redvace's singing. WilyKat got lost in the song now, too.

The song seemed to take the four of them far away, to a place where the journey of life came to an end. It was as if they had fallen asleep and gone to paradise. They saw a future much like an Animal Utopia, where, on the horizon, where the Gulls of the Bird Nation called, was a far green country behind a sheet of silver glass, and in the country were all the races of Third Earth, native and colonists, living in peace.

Cats and Dogs, Birdmen and Fishmen, Lizards and Jackals, Monkeys and Rats, Elephants and Petalars, and all the rest, as well, at peace and joy with each other, with no more hostilities, no more arrogance, no more war, and no more Mumm-Ra.

And in the midst of all this, they felt like they could see sailing ships, beckoning for all the souls of the sentient Animals into the West, where the white shores like the one they were on, awaited their arrival. Across the sea, the ships had come to carry home the souls of all beings, and the light on the water was only the beginning of the light of peace harmony amongst all.

And then, the trance ended, as Redvace and WilyKit came to the end of their song. Soon, the four of them were asking each other if they saw what they saw.

"If you mean the future world of the Animals of Third Earth united in union with each other, then I sure did!" said Houseboy.

"Wow, I never thought that my singing or WilyKit's flupe could invoke such wondrous music," said Redvace wistfully, "If only the world could actually be that way!"

"Oh, I think it will be, Redvace," said WilyKit, "I really do."

"How do you know?" asked Houseboy.

"I don't," said WilyKit, "It's just…a feeling. Kids can sometimes see things grown-ups can't, you know."

"Well, that's sure true!" laughed WilyKat. "Grown-ups are usually wiser than us, but even kids can be smart. I just hope WilyKit's right, because Lion-O's working so hard to unite the races under the ThunderCats' banner."

"I agree with Kit," said Redvace, "I think she really knows what she's talking about. I heard about how she's been acting like a ThunderCat cleric in Cheetara's stead, and everything she said to Lion-O at Avista was the truth."

They looked at her. "How do you know, Redvace?" asked Houseboy.

"Because I was there," said Redvace, "I visited Avista at about the same time the ThunderCats visited it, and the time Mumm-Ra and Pumyra almost destroyed it. WilyKit pulled Lion-O out of his bad feelings, and gave him the strength to continue the fight against Mumm-Ra. If she says that things will turn out for the better, and a vision cause by our song confirmed it, then I think all of us should believe it!"

They all exchanged looks. "Then I believe it!" said WilyKat.

"Me too!" said Houseboy.

They all joined hands and made a pact of friendship, and they promised to support the Lord of the ThunderCats in any and all of his adventures, wherever they may take him and his allies.

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><p><strong>AN:** The "song" in this story isn't any particular song, but the vision that results from it is based on "Into the West" from _The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King_.

The ending of this story isn't one of my better ones, although it isn't my worst, either, but I hope that readers can forgive me for it. I just wasn't sure of the best way to end it. And by the way, "flupe" isn't a misspelling. The flute-like instrument WilyKit carried around and played _was_ called a _"flupe."_


End file.
